Battersea
Battersea is a historic London neighbourhood that, with the renovation and relaunch of Battersea Power Station as a new shopping district, has been back on everyone’s mind. Certainly one of the most recognisable aspects of the area, the power station was once a titan that provided a fifth of London’s electricity. It closed down in 1983 and remained derelict, but a still remarkable and striking fixture of the city’s skyline, until it opened up again in October 2022. The new Battersea Power Station was met with mixed reviews, but has still become a major attraction.
The surrounding area has had a makeover too, reminiscent of some highly developed areas of NYC. The new art’otel has popped up next door, boasting fantastic views of the power station from its in-house restaurant JOIA. And its other neighbour, Circus West Village, is an apartment complex-cum-shopping centre with plenty of restaurants to choose from.
Of course, that’s not all there is to Battersea – it’s a big place after all. It’s home to one of London’s largest parks (Battersea Park), a 200-acre space for landmarks, lakes and a zoo. There’s the Battersea Arts Centre, the neighbourhood’s bustling venue for independent theatre and gigs. And you can expect to find some great restaurants here too, serving up everything from comforting pub grub to acclaimed Vietnamese food.
Named after Juan Díaz de Solis, a 16th-century explorer believed to be the first European to land in Uruguay, Solis is an Iberian-South American grill restaurant from Ana Gonçalves and Zijun Meng at Arcade Food Hall Battersea. It’s a homage to the traditional parrillas of Montevideo, with hardwood furniture, blue & white checked tablecloths and antiques filling the space, and South American music coming out of the speakers. The team has tried hard to establish an aesthetic and create a vibe in what is a large unit inside an even larger shopping centre. If you avoid looking at the entrance, and the retailers beyond it, you can start to buy into the idea, and once things start arriving at the table, like a potent Tinto de Verano sangria, succulent spatchcock chicken with aji-aji oil, well-cooked steak, aggressively seasoned fries and a spectacular torta de queso, you start to believe it. Solis is designed to do food at volume but it’s proving that it can also be exciting too.
With hospitality company Spook London, Emily Few Brown has been using food and drink to create meaningful experiences and she’s carried that same ethos through to her Battersea restaurant Archway. Tucked into an old railway arch close to Battersea Park, Archway showcases seasonal produce and ethical cooking, with the menu featuring Italian-inspired dishes that celebrate growing and foraging. It evolves in line with the seasons so dishes change often but you can expect the likes of flatbread with olive and cime di rapa; brown crab tagliolini; white & green asparagus risotto with leek butter; and lamb rump with rainbow chard and mustia cheese.
Opened by Other Side Fried founders Matt Harris and Tommy Kempton, neighbourhood spot Ploussard features 34-cover dining room with dark wood booths and tones of light pink, burgundy and oat. The menu is centred around seasonal sharing plates and low-intervention wines, with the likes of crab & pink grapefruit tartelettes, trout with Jersey Royals and shrimp butter, BBQ leek with goats curd and pine nut, duck breast with cherry and turnip, and chocolate & black barley choux buns coming out of the kitchen.
Kapihan, on the edge of Battersea Park, is celebrating the best of Filipino cafe culture, brewing speciality coffee sourced directly from independent farms in the Philippines. As well as your classic brews, you can find Filipino specialties like coconut caramel lattes, salted caramel hot chocolate and iced kalamansi jasmine tea. You’ll defo want to pick up one of their Filipino bakes – pandesal, ube buko pie, bibingka, and pan de adobo are all on the menu – but it’s worth sitting in for the all-day breakfast if you can. The tapsilog (marinated beef, green papaya & carrot atchara, tomatoes, garlic rice and a sunny side up egg) is one hell of a way to start the day.
After branching out into noods with BAO Noodle Shop in Shoreditch, the Taiwanese chain has opened a second one south of the river. Officially part of the Arcade Food Hall inside Battersea Power Station, BAO Noodle Shop Battersea actually operates as a standalone site with its own dedicated entrance and even a private karaoke room. You can see all the noodle action at the counter that wraps around the large open kitchen, otherwise there’s plenty of room at the communal tables. The signature beef short rib and rare beef rump noodle soups, the aubergine & kelp soup, and the dan dan tofu noodles from the Shoreditch site are also on the Battersea menu, as are a selection of classic bao and small plates like eel & smacked cucumbers, Taiwanese fried chicken, and boiled cull yaw dumplings. There are a few exclusives that you can’t get over in East London, including the Danzai Noodles in a pork and shrimp broth topped with prawns and pork mince, the deep-fried tofu & sanbei sauce bao, and delightful little cheese croquettes with hot sauce & plum ketchup. With warming noodle soups to keep you going when the weather turns and cold drinks like peanut milk and shaved ice strawberry daiquiris to cool you down in the heat, plus all the faves we’ve come to know and love delivered with consistency, BAO Battersea really does tick all the boxes.
Already well established at its Charlotte Street and Flat Iron Square locations, Where The Pancakes Are was one of the first restaurants to open inside the redeveloped Battersea Power Station. The all-day, all-pancakes spot isn’t exactly what you’d expect, with a menu of both savoury and sweet options and combos you never thought you’d see atop a stack. The menu changes seasonally, but some highlights include pulled beef pastrami pancakes with cheddar and sauerkraut, kale slaw and homemade pickles; cheddar and goat cheese Dutch baby with roast thyme and rosemary; and Korean miso and scallion pancake with kimchi and soy dipping sauce. There are plenty of drinks on offer too, with a range of soft drinks, wines and beer. The cocktail list got you covered for classics like mimosas, Aperol spritzes, margaritas, espresso martinis and more. Plus, if you drop by from 5-7pm you can get any cocktail for just £7 as part of their happy hour deal.
You can swing by Humble Grape for a bottle of two of wine to take away but if you’ve got the time, it’s well worth sitting in and choosing from a constantly rotating selection of wines by the glass – with over 400 different wines so you’ve got a lot to get through. You can pair your wine with a range of cheese and cured meats, or go for an all-out dinner with dishes like grilled octopus, lamb meatballs, braised pork cheek and flat iron steak with chips.
Even though we hope they’re not catching fish from the Thames, there’s something very satisfying about eating right by the water at the latest Wright Brothers restaurant by Battersea Power Station. This is their fifth restaurant in London and the location is pretty stunning, with an outdoor terrace right on the river. The seafood definitely doesn’t come from the Thames by the way. Long before they had any restaurants Wright Brothers started as a wholesaler and unsurprisingly, oysters are big on the menu here too, with a long list of different varieties and dressings on offer. The rest of the menu has a solid line up of fish and shellfish, with dishes such as hake fillet with a shrimp and lemon risotto and, our favourite, the halibut with a Thai-inspired nam jim sauce and Cornish mussels.
Located on a busy stretch of Battersea Park Road, The Latchmere is a great place to spend an evening by the fire, in the garden, or upstairs in the theatre. As well as a strong line up of beers, ales, gin, and wines, The Latchmere knocks out excellent food too, with home-cured British charcuterie, steaks all aged in-house, free-range chicken and pork, and sustainably sourced fish from the south coast. The first floor of The Latchmere continues to be home to Theatre503, an Olivier award-winning theatre for over 30 years.
Fiume is right on the bank of the river Thames (‘fiume’ = river in Italian), with views of both the water and Battersea Power Station, and was one of the first new launches at Circus West Village when it first emerged. Fiume serves up a menu of traditional Mediterranean dishes – expect the likes of burrata and calamari to start followed by various pizzas and pasta dishes. The real USP here is the location and the sights, grab a seat on the terrace to take it all in.
Don’t be deceived: if you head to Northcote Records in the hopes of picking up your favourite tracks on vinyl, you are going to be sorely disappointed. If you are in search of cocktails, live music and dancing however, you’ve definitely come to the right place. With bands on pretty much every night of the week, this jumpin’ joint is a great place to grab a pizza, grab a drink, or grab a partner and dance the night away!
Ever wanted to know what the inside of a secret treasure trove looked like? Visit the antiques market on Northcote Road and you can find out. The Tardis-like indoor market, which is set out over a couple of levels, is home to a wealth of vintage goods, from antiques to retro design pieces to jewellery and much, much more. Be prepared to rummage and be prepared to haggle – but take it from us, it’s worth it.
Calling all culture vultures! Battersea Arts Centre is one of the best places to check out new plays, live music and youth activities in the area. Working with over 400 artists to put on at least 650 shows EVERY YEAR, they really know how to get things done. Feeling peckish? There is also a bar and cafe open all day so you never have to leave… well, you may have to eventually… but you get the idea!
Mondo was founded by two Americans but these guys were thirsty for London, so it’s American-inspired, British-brewed vibes all round. The brewery and taproom is just a few yards from Battersea Power Station and they regularly collab with their transatlantic pals to create beer for all occasions. Their Dennis Hopp’r best seller is light and malty, whilst the Tone Float is a hazy IPA with an adult ABV. There’s plenty of other corkers too with seasonal specials released each month. Get ready for a proper sesh.
It’s balls galore at Bounce and we love it. Bounce is the home of ping pong and whether you’re super competitive or just wanna hit a few balls whilst holding a cocktail in the other hand, Bounce will ping your night to a whole new level. The Battersea Power Station location is the first Bounce in South London and it’s a whopper of a site, so you’ll have no trouble grabbing a bat and ball here. There are a bunch of games to choose from, including the classic ping pong, the immersive wonderball, beer pong and shuffle board, and you can have a post-match debrief over sourdough pizzas and a round of bevvies. And if you wanna watch the professionals in action, there are screens showing all the major sporting fixtures, so you can stay on top of the scores even if you can’t manage to rack up any points of your own.
The Source Bulk Foods, which has branches in Battersea, Richmond, Crouch End and Chiswick, stocks over 450 bulk foods so you really are spoilt for choice. If you can’t head in-store to shop you can also order online and have waste-free shopping delivered to your door.
This place has got their own micro-brewery, a gin garden, a virtual reality games room, a retro arcade AND a totally bonkers racing car track so you defo won’t be getting bored here. This much-loved boozer is not only one of the best in Battersea but probably all of South London. Yeah, we said it.
As the name suggests, The Magic Garden is a whimsical pub in Battersea that’s worth going just for the outside alone. The pub’s garden is decked out with fairy lights, blanketed sofas and a vintage car and it’s even a viable outdoor option in the colder months, as the garden is covered – plus, you can get some blankets and hot water bottles if you’re a little too chilly. Inside, the vibes are boho meets cluttercore and they regularly host gigs – as they put it themselves, it’s a “festival in a pub”. “The Cure” is their Sunday special, a day where you can drop by for free blues gigs, Sunday roasts, board games and Bloody Marys so you can recover from that hangover and shoo away the Sunday Scaries.
After launching a kitchen at Arcade Food Hall at Centre Point, Bake Street founder Feroz Gajia opened a second branch, and the first standalone site, of his burger joint Manna at Arcade Food Hall at Battersea Power Station. A tribute to American diner dishes, Manna does smash burgers and fried chicken that nod to the fast food faves of your youth but dialled up to another level. Just like at Bake Street, the Manna smash burger is thing of beauty, balanced with just the right amount of cheese, mustard, ketchup, pickles and onions, but you don’t wanna miss the Nashville hot chicken or an exclusive-to-Battersea crispy fish filay burger (there’s one with Old Bay-laced tartare sauce and one with scotch bonnet sauce). Pair with a thick vanilla shake and waffle fries, and finish with the Manna Apple Pie, with volcanically hot apple chunks inside just like at Maccy’s, with a dusting of cinnamon sugar to elevate it, for the ultimate nostalgic meal.
